Fence



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1 J. Z. STANLEY.

FENCE.

No. 381,858. atented Apr. 24-, 1888.

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J. Z. STANLEY.

- 8 Sheets-.Sheet 3.

FENCE.

Patented Apr. 24, 1888.

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$231 a ike mac and exact description of the invention, which UNITEDSTATES PATENT OF ICE.

JAMES z. STANLEY, or SPRINGDALE, MICHIGAN.

FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 381,858, dated April24, 1888.

Application filed January 23, 1888.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMEs'Z. STANLEY, of Springdale, in the county ofWexfordand'State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Fences; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear,

will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

The object of my improvement is to make a rail fence having wire binds?inwhich the crossing stakes shall be firmly held, with no tendency tospread at their bottom ends, and therefore having no need of cross wiresor other stays connecting them at the bottom to prevent such spreading,and also to facilitate theinserting and fastening of horizontal rails inpendent wires by a peculiar double twist of the wire, and which alsoprevents the rails being lifted or pushed up by small animals, and toeconomize the construction and accommodate it to the making of picketfences.

The nature of the invention will readily appear from the followingdescription.

Figure 1 is an enlarged transverse section on the line a: w of Fig. 2.Fig. 2 is an elevation of a portion of my improved rail fence. Fig. 3 isa view similar to Fig. 2, in which wires instead of lower rails areused. Fig. 4. is a view similar to Fig. 2, in which pickets instead oflower rails are used. Fig. 5 is a view of a portion of my rail fence,showing a top and side brace; Fig. 6, a view showing the manner ofcompleting and tightening the binds for the upper and lower top rails,which are placed in the crotches of the crossing stakes. Fig. I shows mymode of anchoring on irregular ground. A

I employ the well-known crossing stakes A B, which cross each other neartheir upper ends, but which by my mode of wire binding do not require tobe permanently nailed or bolted together, nor do they need to beembedded in the ground. A short endless uncrossed loop, d, of strongwire, is first placed around the under top rail, E, and around thestakes A B, and upon inserting rail F aslant in said loop, and thenpulling down the rail (see Serial No. 261,681. (No model.)

Fig. 6) from its inclined to a horizontal position, a great purchasepower is obtained, similar to that in binding a load of logs or lumberwith a pole and chain. It will 'be evident that a bind formed by merelytwisting a wire around these stakes and rails could not bind strongenough to hold a fence from going down, because it would lack therequisite stability; but by the purchase power obtained by my using aloop of large wire and then using the rail as a long lever I can embedthis wire into the stakes and rails as the rail tightens down. Thus Iform what I call bind No. 1 as far as I wish to go with the fence--sayfor twenty rods-puttingin the rails in the lower crotches or angles, 2,clear across the lot, and as fast as a rail is brought down another pairof crossing stakes is placed over said rail, and so on, and afterreaching the terminus of the fence I cease to bind the line of rails E FG, &c., and

next I go back with the top rails, C D, &c.,

traversed before, and in forcing down the upper top rails to place aftertheir insertions in the top loops, d, the leverage of these rails onthese loops is in a direction the reverse or oppositeof that employed intightening the other lower set of similar loops, d. The stakes, upperrails, and tightened loops are thus so powerfully held together thateven if the struct ure were not further strengthened the fence would beself-sustaining. The fence is selfbinding-that is, the insertion andforcing to place of the rails accomplish the binding. It should be bornein mind that the end posts are only used at the starting-place andterminus of the fence, all the rest of the fence being composed ofstakes, rails, and wire.

It will be seen that the construction thus far described may be usedeither for a rail fence, at picket fence, or for one in which the lowerportion below the angle 2 may be closed by horizontal wires, eitherbarbed or plain, to keep animals from passing. My preferred way ofeffecting this is to use a wire support, pecu: liarly made forsustaining afew horizontal rails, it being understood that in my fencefewer rails than usual are needed. I pass a third inde pendent wire, g,over the rails E F, just beneath the angle 2, and then, bringing the twoparts of the wire together, they are twisted together for, say, one ormore twists. Then a rail, (or rails,) K, is put loosely into theuntwisted partthat is, between the two parts of the wire-and a slight orsingle twist below the rail will prevent it from dropping; but this doesnot yet complete it nor properly tighten the rail, (or rails, in casetwo lapping ends of rails chance to be at this point,) because the railis yet lying in a loop which is considerably larger than thecross-section of the rail. 1 can now insert a. rod, bar, or any suitableinstrument in the space between the parts ij of the wire, and just abovethe rail, and give the whole wire an extra twist in the same directionof the twist previously given, and both above and below the tighteningimplement, (or this may be done with pliers or pin chers,) thustightening both above and below such implement, which is then withdrawn,and this leaves the wire in such condition that at any time a rail maybe easily withdrawn for repairs or otherwise by simply using pliers, orby inserting any implement or rod in the opening or loop-space k andturning it in the opposite direction, which will undo the twists i and jand leave the rail loose. It will be seen that any desired degree oftightening ofthe wire and rails can be given by means of the pliers,rod, or bar when inserting these rails, and also any desired degree oflooseness when removing them. One advantage of tightening the rails bythe extra twist is to prevent the rails being raised or lifted by hogsor other animals passing under them. Nor can the rails slip up and down,as if hung in the ordinary wire loops.

Any desired length of rails may be used. The wire is used, twisted inthe same way, for holding other rails L M (as may be desired) below therail K. Usually three such rails will be suflicient, making, with theupper and lower top rails, only five rails in all, while ordinarily inthis class of fences from six to eight are required. Nor do I need anyinclined brace-rails, as the solidity given by my manner'of bindingrenders them unnecessary.

The bind No. 1 is preferably made before that above it, or No. 2, andthe bindingtwist in one of them is made in a direction opposite to thatin the other one. The wire 9, as before stated, performs no duty ofholding firmly together the cross legs or stakes A 13, nor of preventingtheir spreading at their feet. I, however, extend its ends from beneaththe lowermost rail to thelower ends of these stakes, merely to preventthe under rails from being swung by animals that might thereby passunder them. The effect of the whole of these several binds is that theyinsure a firm solid structure, which will not sway, turn, or fall downendwise, as too often happens with other fences in use.

To make apicket fence, horizontal rails may be placed at a point nearthe ground and the pickets nailed or fastened to it and to the rails OD, as shown in Fig. 4; but the intermediate rails may be dispensed with.Two to four inch pickets will be sufficient.

To make a board fence, Iuse thesame stakes and same manner ofbinding thetwo top boards to them. The boards may be notched at their ends tofacilitate the wire-binding and prevent the boards turning over. Strips0, of wood, may also be placed vertically on the center of the panelsand opposite to each other. These help to stiffen the fence, as doesalso a cap-board, p, secured above the top rail, and which also gives afinish.

Instead of pickets or boards below the two top rails,horizontal wires,barbed or plain, may be used, substantially as shown in Fig. 3. In thususing wire (preferably barbed) I first set posts in the ground as farapart as the ground will permit, and on level ground they may be fortyrods apart. Then stretch the wire, (as many strands as desired,) andthen proceed to set up the crossing stakes and top rails and binds, aspreviously stated, first completing the hind No. 1 from one end to theother and next completing the bind No. 2 from one end to the other.\Vith this construction I do not need any wooden rail at the bottom ofthe fence. The horizontal wires may be any desired distance apart.

In building my fences over an uneven piece of ground say, for instance,from the top of one small hill or elevation to another or over anysimilar abrupt hollow-I use the following means for preventing a tightpull on the longitudinal wire or barbed wire, and which pull would tendto pull this portion of the structure up into the air. I thereforeanchor or stay the fence by burying at a suitable depth in the ground astone or brick, q, or other material of sufficient weight, durability,and size, and attach to ita wire,r, which at its upper endI fasten tothe barbed or other fence wire. This allows of pulling down the fencewire or wires to the desired position relatively to the surface of theground and securing it in such position. This stay or anchoring wire maybe in the same piece with and a continuation of one which hasthedoubletwistheretofore described. Such anchoring would of course only be neededoccasionally in building a fence, and in fences where no setting-postsare used.

I claim- 1. In a rail fence, the combination,with the crossing stakes AB and with the lower top rails, E F, of short endless uncrossed wireloops placed around said stakes and tightened up to bind the partsfirmly together by the lever action of such lower rail in forcingitafter the insertion of its end into theloop from an inclined to ahorizontal position, all as shown and described.

2. In a rail fence, the described combination, with the crossing stakesand the upper top rails, O D, of the short endless uncrossed wire loopsplaced around the tops of the stakes above theirpointof crossing andhaving within applied and tightened in the opposite directhem the endsof the said rails, the loops betion by the rail, all as set forth. ingforced to bind all these parts firmly to- 4:. In combination, thecrossing stakes com- 1 gether by the downward lever action of said binedwith the under top rails, E F, the wire 5 rails to bring them totheirhorizontalposition; g, hung thereon and double twisted, as deandthe direction of this binding of these upscribed, hanging verticallybeneath the crotch per rails being opposite that of the lower top of thestakes, and a series of rails or their derails, all as shown anddescribed. scribed equivalent pendent from such wire. 3. In combination,the crossing stakes, the JAMES Z. STANLEY. [0 lower top rails and theirwire loops applied Witnesses:

and tightened by the rail, as set forth, and the W.']?. OGDEN, J r.,

upper top rails and their endless wire loops CHARLES S. MARE.

